Club treasurer spared jail for fraud

A teacher who stole more than $40,000 from a rowing club at one of Auckland's top schools has been spared jail after a judge decided she was genuinely remorseful.

Former Takapuna Grammar School teacher Nova Camp, 54, used her position as treasurer for the club to write cheques for her personal use for nine months, starting in late 2011.

Camp appeared in the North Shore District Court today for sentencing on three representative charges of obtaining by pecuniary advantage by dishonestly using cheques from Takapuna Grammar School Rowing Club.

The court heard how Camp wrote cash cheques or paid her own bills using the club's account, fraudulently racking up $40,395 in her own name.

In sentencing, Judge Nevin Dawson stressed the need for Camp to be held accountable.

"It's clear that there was a massive sense of grievance in that rowing club for your behaviour... you reduced the options for that club to proceed with their sport."

Dawson said the club was a vulnerable victim and that Camp's crime had a high degree of premeditation, as it was ongoing for so many months.

Camp's lawyer Lucy Smith asked for a sentence of home detention and said Camp had a 16-year-old daughter at home who had health issues.

Dawson gave Camp credit for an early guilty plea, her previous good character and said he could see her remorse was genuine.

He knocked a starting point of two years imprisonment down to seven months and two weeks of home detention, and ordered Camp to pay reparation at a cost of $40 per week.

She would also be subject to special conditions for a further six months, and would be required to undertake budgeting classes and counselling if required by her probation officer.